Kim Jong Un, TIME’s 2012 Person of the Year

Kim Jong Un, TIME’s 2012 Person of the Year

The US weekly TIME announced after summing up the events of 2012 that Kim Jong Un headed the short list of the 2012 Person of the Year. The newsmagazine picked by online voting the persons who distinguished themselves in 2012 in the political, economic, military, cultural and other sectors of state administration and social life. The leader of the DPRK was voted the 2012 Person of the Year by an overwhelming majority.

In the Spotlight of the World

Never before in history has been recorded such a statesman as the Korean leader who attracted worldwide attention upon entering the political arena.

He was thrown into the limelight of the international community in September 2010, when at the Third Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea he was elected Vice Chairman of the Military Commission of its Central Committee. The mass media vied to convey the news and CNN ranked him among the Top Tens.

According to the search result on Google for access to information about Kim Jong Un during the ten days after the demise of Chairman Kim Jong Il of the DPRK National Defence Commission in December 2011, there were 67.4 million hits, or some 230 000 an hour, in English version. Estimated with the inclusion of the number of hits in non-English versions, it would not be hard to perceive the extraordinary concern of the international community about the young Korean leader.

The youngest leader who attracted the greatest attention in the shortest period—this was the gist of the comments in the press.

In 2012 the major media of the world designated him as the notable person of the year. TIME featured his photograph on the cover of its issue for the last week of February.

Brilliant Political Activities

“Brilliant” does not suffice to define Kim Jong Un’s political activities in 2012.

On the first day of the year he inspected the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105^th Tank Division of the Korean People’s Army, the unit associated with the activities of President Kim Il Sung, founding father of socialist Korea, and Chairman Kim Jong Il, guardian of the socialist cause.

All the year round he was on his inspection trips around the army, navy, air and anti-aircraft, and strategic rocket units.

These trips are noteworthy as they were not made on ordinary days. In August when the US and south Korean armies were in the throes of a joint war game Kim Jong Un made his way to Jangjae Islet in the southwestern front on board a small wooden vessel unescorted. The news was a great surprise as the islet was a danger spot within a stone’s throw of Yonphyong Island which saw an exchange of fierce artillery firing between the north and the south of Korea in November 2010. As the next leg of his trip he inspected a unit defending the nearby Mu Islet, where he ordered with a resolute tone that if the enemy dared fire a shell to the DPRK’s territory amid its bungled military action, the unit must not restrict it to a local war in the southwestern front but lead it to a sacred war for national reunification.

The personality of the Korean leader, who has inherited Chairman Kim Jong Il’s Songun politics, matchless courage and pluck, left a deep impression on the outside world.

In a year he made pubic over ten works illumining the road ahead of the Korean people, including Let Us March Forward Dynamically towards Final Victory, Holding Higher the Banner of Songun (April 15), On Bringing About a Revolutionary Turn in Land Administration in Line with the Demands for Building a Thriving Socialist Country (April 27) and Let Us Step Up the Building of a Thriving Country by Applying Kim Jong Il’s Patriotism (July 26).

The Korean leader set it as his priority task to achieve economic prosperity and improve the people’s standard of living, giving field guidance at factories, enterprises, construction sites and cultural service facilities. He visited time and again such construction projects as Changjon Street known as a hub of luxury dwellings for ordinary citizens, Rungna People’s Pleasure Park including the dolphinarium, the alpa mare, the minigolf course and the amusement park, and Ryugyong Health Complex with bathrooms, hairdresser’s, saunas and a fitness centre. Literally, he spared no trouble to provide the citizens with the best conditions for their cultural life.

This year a series of events were arranged on his own initiative: in April the military parade in celebration of the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung; in June the celebrations marking the 66^th anniversary of the Korean Children’s Union; in July the celebrations marking the 59^th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War; in August the Youth Day celebration conference; in October the celebrations of the anniversary of the revolutionary schools; and in November the celebration of Mother’s Day.

Gao Haorong, a scholar at the World Problems Study Centre under the Xinhua News Agency in China, characterized these celebrations as an “unprecedentedly extensive scale comprising all citizens ranging from babbling children to grey-haired people.” Kim Jong Un attended most of the celebrations, delivering speeches or sending letters, posing for a photograph with the participants and sending gifts.

There are other impressive episodes showing the harmonious ties between the leader and his people.

After the completion of the construction of Changjon Street he visited the new flats of workers and teachers and toasted them. When seeing children, he held them in his warm embrace and stroked their cheeks, his benevolent image touching the heartstrings of the people. This year he took measures to supply the newly-harvested fruits and fresh fish to kindergartens and nurseries on a preferential basis. He also read the naïve letters addressed to him by children and autographed them giving his blessings for their rosy future.

Kim Jong Un is the father of all the Korean people. This year he adopted a series of steps for the benefit of the people: the promulgation of the law on enforcing the universal 12-year compulsory education; the construction of the Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital and the conversion of a facility attached to the army into a fitness centre for civilian use. Mass cultural activities gained in scope and a hot wind of sports swept all over the country. All the people are full of conviction and optimism as they are marching forward towards the goal of building a thriving nation.

Indeed, Kim Jong Un made the most brilliant achievements in all sectors of state administration and social life.

The Korean leader will attract more attention of the international community.